
In this special bonus episode of the Empathy Table Podcast, Amar sits down
with David Blanchard, CEO of Praxis Labs, a creative engine for redemptive
entrepreneurship, supporting founders, funders, and innovators motivated by
their faith to love their neighbors and renew culture.
Amar and David discuss the mission of Praxis and how Dave understands the
role empathy plays in the work of moving from exploitation to redemption.
David describes Praxis’ “Redemptive Frame” and its application not only for
entrepreneurs, but also for clergy, non-profits, and more. They focus on
what “success” looks like for the Christian and how we might best
contribute to the world. Amar and Dave conclude with advice for emerging
leaders who are deeply passionate about moving their communities towards
love, justice, and empathy. Dave concludes with three excellent quotes from
Gustave Flaubert, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and N. T. Wright.
Jun 1, 2022

In this episode of the Empathy Table, Amar is joined by Lauren Daniels on
the first ever CECPL Instagram LIVE.
Lauren, a teacher and community gardener based in downtown Chicago, speaks
to the interconnectedness of cultivating land and faith formation. Lauren
speaks to how creation is dependent upon relationships at the intersection
of life, death, and rebirth.
Aug 17, 2021

This week on the Empathy Table, Amar is joined by Dr. Vincent Bacote,
Professor of Theology at Wheaton College and CECPL Advisory Council member.
Vince and Amar talk about the theological grounding for empathy in
Christian and public life. They discuss the work of “Reckoning with Race
and Performing the Good News” and the importance of Jesus’ call to love our
neighbors. Vince and Amar offer a robust understanding of empathy that goes
beyond merely “feeling with.” By way of story and theory, they argue that
empathy requires both a physical and cognitive move towards another that is
both emotional and intellectual. In other words, it requires us to not only
bear one another’s’ burdens emotionally, but also understand the complex
realities behind the burden itself.
Aug 10, 2021

This week on the Empathy Table, Amar is joined by David Katibah, Program
Assistant at Telos Group.
David shares about his work atTelos which intersects with his story of
growing up in a post-9/11 world as a person of mixed Middle Eastern
heritage. Amar and David talk about the conflicts in Israel-Palestine and
the reflexive defensiveness of Christians in support of Israel that
contributes to a polarized imagination of winners and losers, rather than
mutual flourishing. Amar encourages us to embrace an intellectual and
empathic humility when engaging in these complex issues. David reminds us
that our aim is for mutual liberation—the marginalized from oppression and
oppressors from the lies of colonization and power that inhibit their own
true flourishing. True, mutual flourishing only exists when both oppressor
and oppressed are released from the bondage of this binary imagination.
Amar and David also discuss the need for repentance and transformation
within the church, and our call to build, with Christ, a kingdom of Shalom.
Jul 26, 2021

Amar is joined this week by Andrew Hanauer, President and CEO of the One
America Movement. Andrew and Amar talk about the unprecedented toxicity of
the polarization we see in our zero-sum world today, the aspirational title
of “One America,” and the role of leaders and communities of faith in
healing our nation. Andrew emphasizes the need for relationships of trust
across lines of difference in this work of redemptive change, the
misapplication and detrimental distribution of empathy, and where the work
of depolarization is located socially. Amar also shares his thoughts on
Saint Augustine’s understanding of vulnerability being at the heart of
empathy, compassion, and mercy.
Jul 20, 2021

This week, Amar is joined by Eric Brown and Taylor Jones, co-founders of
Whiteboard. They talk about the complex digital landscape of the internet
and wonder together how we might redeem the exploitative tendencies of
social media in order to foster hospitable spaces of constructive change.
Taylor observes an overemphasis on infinite scaling that only concerns
“value capture” rather than “value creation,” and how the internet was
created to be a space of human connection and collaboration. Eric talks
about the necessary work of naming and embracing tension in the in-between,
gray spaces of life, how we need to teach the next generation to not only
interact face-to-face, but screen-to-screen. They discuss the hard work of
restoration, redemption, and anti-racism, as well as the need to ask “why”
and take part in the work of change, rather than placing the burden of
change on someone else.
Jul 13, 2021

This week, Amar is joined by Kevin Singer, Co-Founder and Co-Director of
Neighborly Faith. Amar and Kevin talk about the felt need that Neighborly
Faith is addressing, intersection of empathy and multi-faith work, the
hospitable and invitational nature of both Christian and Islamic faith, and
Gospel proclamation through faithful presence. Kevin speaks to some of the
disingenuous ways that Christians have approached these inter-religious
relationships—like valuing Christian conversion over genuine friendship—and
how Christians might re-frame these relationships in a way that deeply
humanizing and glorifying to God.
Jun 29, 2021

This week on the Empathy Table Amar is joined by Danté Stewart. Amar and
Dante talk about the way that white evangelicalism has shaped them both for
better or worse and how they’ve moved out of these spaces. Danté shares his
thoughts on the diversity of Black thought in America, the process of
writing his new book “Shoutin’ in the Fire” as a living epistle, the
revolutionary act of storytelling, and how he sees empathy playing a
prophetic role in our world today.
Jun 22, 2021

This week at the Empathy Table, we are joined by Dr. Michelle Ami Reyes.
Michelle and Amar speak from their shared Indian American identity about
the importance of naming, articulating, and embracing our cultural
narrative, the role of empathy in faithful Christian practice, moving our
churches towards true, multi-cultural worshiping communities, and how
Paul’s claim to “become all things to all people” helps us in all these
tasks.
Jun 15, 2021

This week at the Empathy Table, we are joined by Dr. Michelle Ami Reyes.
Michelle and Amar speak from their shared Indian American identity about
the importance of naming, articulating, and embracing our cultural
narrative, the role of empathy in faithful Christian practice, moving our
churches towards true, multi-cultural worshiping communities, and how
Paul’s claim to “become all things to all people” helps us in all these
tasks.
Jun 7, 2021